HDR for $400

When it comes to inches-per-buck, TVs have usually looked cheap compared to dedicated PC monitors. But big-screen TVs haven’t always made great monitors, mainly due to the relatively low resolution of TVs. Even a full 1080p HDTV is low res compared to many PC monitors.

Moreover, when you stretch that 1920x1080 pixel grid over a 40, 50, or 60-inch panel, the result is big, fat, ugly pixels. Yuck. With the advent of 4K resolutions, however, things changed. A 4K 40-inch TV makes for a similar pixel pitch as a 27-inch 2560x1440 resolution monitor. Ideal. But the first 4K TVs suffered from another historical TV shortcoming: low-fi display interfaces. Many couldn’t accept a 4K signal with a refresh rate above 30Hz. Fine for movies, no good for a PC monitor.

However, with the wider adoption of HDMI 2.0, it was possible to drive a 4K HDTV at 60Hz from a PC video card. Suddenly, using a relatively cheap 4K HDTV as a PC monitor made sense. The same thinking applies to HDR TVs. Granted, there are limits to how big it’s practical to go with a PC monitor. And the fat, ugly pixel problem reappears as sizes extend toward 50 inches and beyond. But 4K TVs with at least partial HDR support, such as the Samsung KU6300 series, can be had for little more than $400 for the 40-inch model. That’s one hell of a deal.

However, such a screen won’t have much, if anything, by way of PC-friendly features. Forget driving it beyond 60Hz. It almost definitely won’t have adaptive sync technology, such as Nvidia’s G-Sync or AMD’s FreeSync. It may not offer the greatest pixel response. But perhaps the biggest killer, especially for gaming, is input lag. For HDTVs, a bit of input lag isn’t a major concern. On the PC, it’s downright horrible. The moral of this particular story, then, is that it’s absolutely essential to try before you buy.